A BIT OF ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND IN AMERICA
Alston, daughter of
Aaron Burr and wife of
Governor Alston of
South Carolina, ended
its last voyage. After
the tragic collapse of
her father's career and
the loss of her little son,
the only hope of the
Burr family, Mrs. Al
ston was in the depths
of despair. She set
sail from Georgetown,
South Carolina, to join
her lonely father and
disappeared forever!
For more than half a
century it was believed
that the Patriot had
gone down with all on
board in a midwinter
storm off Hatteras-a
storm severe enough to
scatter even the British
war fleet which was
harrying American
shipping at the time.
But in 1869 a 75-year
old "Banks" woman,
dying at Nags Head,
told a story which,
though possibly apoc
ryphal, cast doubt
upon the long-accepted
supposition
and
shrouded the fate of
the Patriot'spassengers
and crew in profound
mystery.
Dr. W. G. Pool, of
Elizabeth City, North
Carolina, went to Nags
Head to minister to the
sick woman. As he was
SEAS CAST UP THE "NAGS HEAD PORTRAIT" OF
THEODOSIA BURR
Aaron Burr's daughter, wife of Governor Alston of South Carolina,
disappeared mysteriously in 1812 on a voyage to visit her father. In
1869 this picture, said by members of her family to be her likeness,
painted in oil on mahogany, was found in the home of a venerable Banks
woman, who said she had received it in her girlhood from a wrecker
sweetheart (see text below).
about to depart from her home he noticed
on the wall a portrait of a charming lady,
done in oil on mahogany. The picture so
aroused his interest that he asked his
patient for its history.
When she was about 18, that is, in 1812,
the aged woman said, a ship without crew
or passengers had come rolling on to the
reefs off Kittyhawk. The ship had been
in perfect condition, its bunks even being
made and its table set; yet not a person,
living or dead, had been aboard. As was
their custom at the time, the "Bankers" had
scuttled the abandoned vessel, and one of
them, the narrator's sweetheart, had kept as
part of his share of the "findings" the oil
portrait and presented it to her. She had
hidden it away. Now, 57 years later, she
offered it to the doctor in lieu of a fee.
Doctor Pool recognized in the pictured
face a possible likeness to Theodosia Burr
and called upon members of the Burr family
to examine it. Upon comparing it with
known portraits of Theodosia, they declared
it highly probable that the painting was in
deed her likeness, which she had carried
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